News and commentary on the autism epidemic and my beautiful boy who is living with autism.

January 20, 2017

Why I no longer participate in the US Immunization Program

Today, the Johns Hopkins Journal, Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, has published their issue entitled, "Narrative Symposium: To Vaccinate or Not? Parents' Stories."

The journal description of this edition: "This narrative symposium, "To Vaccinate or Not? Parents' Stories", is comprised of personal stories from 12 parents on their decisions about whether or not to vaccinate their children.They offer a first hand look at the debated issues of vaccination. As the narrative symposium editors said, "The goal of this symposium is to aid in a more constructive conversation between pro-vaccination/anti-vaccination groups."

Included in the narriatves is a letter from me, reprinted here in full with permission from Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics.

Families are under no obligation to put their children at risk by participating in the corrupt current US National Immunization Program

My name is Ginger Taylor, and I hold an MS in Clinical Counseling from Johns Hopkins University. I am the mother of a 14–year–old vaccine injured child with an autism diagnosis, and our family no longer participates in the vastly corrupt and broken US National Immunization Program. Because of my experiences, I have become a state and national leader on vaccine safety and vaccine choice issues, co–founding The Canary Party, and The Maine Coalition for Vaccine Choice.

I have two sons, born in 2000 and 2002, and vaccinated them roughly according the the recommended schedule. My second son suffered what we now recognize as an adverse vaccine reaction to his first dose of the Hep B vaccine, but it was not recognized as such by either myself or his pediatricians at the time, so he continued to be vaccinated according to the CDC recommended schedule. Following his 18 month appointment, he suffered a severe neurological regression, displayed symptoms of GI distress, showed signs of an autoimmune condition, and was diagnosed with autism six months later.

His was a text book case of vaccine induced encephalopathy, per the Health and Human Services (HHS), Human Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Vaccine Injury Table established by the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), displaying symptoms including:

(1) A significant change in mental status that is not medication related; specifically a confusional state, or a delirium, or a psychosis;

(2) A significantly decreased level of consciousness, which is independent of a seizure and cannot be attributed to the effects of medication; including:

Decreased or absent response to environment (responds, if at all, only to loud voice or painful stimuli);

Decreased or absent eye contact (does not fix gaze upon family members or other individuals); or

Despite this, and despite my repeated attempts to have my son's pediatrician investigate his condition as a vaccine reaction, no such inquiry was undertaken, and these symptoms were used instead to give him a diagnosis of autism. I would not read the VICP Vaccine Injury Table to learn that his were the symptoms of a well established vaccine injury for several years, and until after the three year statute of limitations had expired for me to file for compensation for his disability.

After being abandoned by the mainstream medical system, we sought expensive, out of pocket, alternative medical care, which proved very fruitful for our son. Although we lost our home over the choice, we still would make the same decision, as it dramatically increased his health and functioning. We are pleased to report that, while he still has full syndrome autism, he has gone from severe to a much higher functioning level. Most importantly, he is a very happy child.

Despite our earnest attempts, 12 years and four pediatricians later, we still cannot simply get him evaluated for this HHS established vaccine injury. Last year I filed a complaint against my own pediatrician with the state medical board, reporting that after multiple requests to evaluate my son for the condition, he had simply ignored my appeals as my previous pediatricians had. I asked the board to rule on whether or not my son had the right to an evaluation per an established standard of care, noting that if I had taken him to the doctor and reported that I believed he had a broken leg, their failure to assess him would constitute medical neglect.

The board investigated the matter, but their ruling did not address the question of what the duty of the doctor is to a patient reporting vaccine adverse reactions, and simply gave a non sequitur response to close the case. Their action was a de facto ruling that no doctor has an obligation to investigate suspected vaccine injuries, and evidence that the medical establishment's response to vaccine adverse reactions is systematized medical negligence.

Our experience is identical to that of untold thousands of parents, who learn the hard way that once your child is injured by a vaccine, you are on your own. The system has chosen to respond to those families with neglect, insults, coercion and even Child Protective Service intervention, rather than to reform the program to put measures in place to protect children and families from harm and fraud, as is the case with every other medical product in this country.

The 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, and the Supreme Court ruling Bruesewitz v Wyeth that sided with the pharmaceutical industry, removed the 7th amendment rights of individuals to sue in cases of vaccine injury and death. Please see https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-152.pdf for more info. Vaccine injury claims were moved to the HHS Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. As a result of this freedom from legal accountability, systematic corruption has taken hold in the US vaccine program as we see that:

False vaccine safety claims made by CDC, who report to the public that, “Vaccines do not cause autism,” and that, “There is no link between vaccines and autism.” Please see http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/autism.html for more info. This despite the fact that the vast majority of the applicable research finds multiple links between vaccines and autism, and demonstrates the mechanisms by which vaccines and their ingredients can and do cause autism.

Mainstream research has found that vaccines and their ingredients can cause the underlying medical conditions that committed physicians and researchers are commonly finding in children who have been given an autism diagnosis. These conditions include gastrointestinal damage, immune system impairment, chronic infections, mitochondrial disorders, autoimmune conditions, neurological regression, glial cell activation, brain inflammation, seizures, synaptic dysfunction, dendritic cell dysfunction, mercury poisoning, aluminum toxicity, gene activation and alteration, glutathione depletion, impaired methylation, oxidative stress, impaired thioredoxin regulation, mineral deficiencies, impairment of the opioid system, endocrine dysfunction, cellular apoptosis, and other disorders. Please see https://www.scribd.com/doc/220807175/127-Research-Papers-Supporting-the-Vaccine-Autism-Link for more info.

Research showing that, although the federal government will not officially establish the vaccine/autism link, the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has been quietly paying autism cases since 1991. Please see http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pelr/vol28/iss2/6/ for more info.

Parents report being routinely bullied in pediatricians' offices for refusing one or more vaccines by physicians and nurses who know vastly less about vaccination and its risks than the family being bullied does, and who cannot give accurate answers to parental questions. Often these families are coerced into signing statements saying that they are violating medical recommendations, putting their child and the public at risk, and are occasionally threatened with Child Protective Service intervention.

In 2015, in response to the national push to remove the rights of parents of schoolchildren to opt out of one or more vaccines, the Maine Coalition for Vaccine Choice worked with legislators to put the focus on the true problem in child health, the unaddressed vaccine injury epidemic, by introducing the Maine Vaccine Consumer Protection Act. Please see http://mainevaxchoice.org/2015/01/02/maine-parents-introduce-the-maine-vaccine-consumer-protection-act/ for more info. The legislation was designed in part to force medical providers to know and use the VICP and the vaccine adverse events information on the package insert, and to investigate and treat vaccine injuries per a standard of care. Please see http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/package_inserts.htm for more info.

The President of the Maine Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (Maine AAP) could not even correctly name or describe the program, submitting testimony that, “The Federal Vaccine Injury Program provides appropriate venue for reporting and tracking vaccine related side effects.”

The Maine Hospital Association testified on vaccine package inserts that “People don’t receive vaccines like they do other prescriptions… not sure there is a package here.”

The representative of the Maine Medical Association (MMA, the Maine Chapter of the American Medical Association) gave a long speech claiming that physicians are constantly trained in this area, but when asked about VICP rulings replied, “I don’t know. I’ve never been involved in that system.” Please see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYlguoqggSo&feature=youtu.be for more information.

Mainstream medicine is in a state of willful ignorance over vaccine injury. Their response to the vast vaccine injury problem is denialism; systematized medical negligence of a growing segment of the population; attacking those with injured loved ones as unscientific, dangerous, “vaccine deniers”; and advocating that they be coerced into continuing in the program, at the cost of a child's education (approximately $50,000 per child.)Why would any sane, conscientious parent, knowing the depths of the corruption in the US National Immunization Program, simply take CDC safety and efficacy claims at face value, and unquestioningly follow the recommended schedule?

There is just no evidence that public health officials, mainstream medical providers or most researchers take vaccine safety seriously.

Finally, the editors of this journal have asked an important question, and I wish to answer it as frankly as I can:

"Is there anything that you think might help to resolve the controversy surrounding vaccinations?"

The controversy surrounding vaccinations will never be resolved until the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act is repealed, and until families 7th amendment rights to have their complaints heard in civil court, under established legal procedure and ruled on by a jury, is restored.

Until there is a way to force public health officials, vaccine industry representatives and medical professionals to testify under oath, and under penalty of perjury, to either defend or retract their fraudulent claims, to pay for the damages done to children (including my child) for their institutionalized abuse and negligence, I will never consent to another member of my family participating in the vaccine program under any circumstances.